Leaderboard

I have missed you people. Been freakishly busy, which is great, but I need dawdling time, darn it! Update on us for my friends here - we're done with books! Yay! The last of the donations are out the door and the inventory space is all LEGO and room for expanding LEGO. We're pretty much a non-presence on eBay these days, which is a total sea-change for us. We'll continue to use the eBay account for some clearance with our 20 free/month, but to be out of that Cassini search nightmare and the twice-yearly hoop-jumping sellers changes is an amazing weight off. Two years ago (yes, it's only been that long!) when I wandered onto this site to say, "Hey, guyz, wut's going on in this thread?" I knew nothing about selling LEGO. Today, it's our family's entire income. So much growth yet to do, but it's all exciting, and every time I get a little frustrated with this problem at BrickLink or that problem at Brick Owl, I have to stop and laugh at myself. It could be WAY worse, like... on eBay! I did have a surreal eBay-like experience on Brick Owl the other day, customer contacted me and asked if he placed $100 or more in his order could he have 50% off and free shipping. I don't know why he didn't ask for one of my daughters, too, must have been an oversight. Anyways, popped into this thread since the topic is nearest and dearest to me these days to catch up, hope to be around a little more often! We did go through a few iterations until we settled on our current one. This photo is from right after we upgraded to "real" inventory boxes (rather than recycled, added our pulling carts, etc. Works like clockwork, four of us can work together in the space now filing parts, pulling parts, counting and packing parts. We still do our shipping and parting out at home, someday we'll buy a house that can incorporate the entire business (first choice) or lease a little commercial/light industrial space (second choice) but this does well for us at our current income/size.

Just made a nice little CL pickup. Hogwarts, 8019 Republic Attack, and a 50 pound tub full for $100.

emazers did.

Everyone had 48 hours earlier this week, when it was clear DS was retiring based on LEGO Shop at Home status changes, to buy their fill at MSRP. If you didn't buy then, why now? And if you bought your limit, or quota, etc. back then, why has that number increased now that buying more is an F5 scenario? Have a plan and stick to it!

usually once every 28 day.

Southcenter mall grand opening today

You forgot the /micdrop

I am not good with numbers I need that Brickson special edition spreadsheet but I'm not a reputable member so you tell me

There is very little risk with this set. Even if it isn't sold out and more are produced, it is a one year theme at maximum. The last Dino sets are doing well.

A bed of joker bumper cars. If only it had a steamroller headboard. I was getting low so glad to be able to find some more

You apparently haven't met my wife!

I have mine listed at $2K. I'm ready to go.

I know this is the complaint thread, but legodelorean I thought I should respond with a positive... I've had that happen to me before on CL...an individual kept changing times and then ran late. I decided to chance it and stick around and accommodate...come to find out, he was from out of state and was visiting friends/family and the family things kept getting in the way. He eventually showed up and loved Lego and we had a long chat in the McDonalds parking lot. Now we keep in contact every so often about sales and other items to look out for. He keeps an eye out for stuff I want in his local stores, (that I may not be able to find or get) and I do the same. Moral of the story...stay positive, sometimes good stuff comes out of frustration, even on CL. (Not that you needed the pep talk...haha...just sharing my experience).

My 2 cents. (IMHO) It is done. A large company, or small company would continue to stock pile orders on this set if this was going to go into another production run. Every day it sits is another Day Lego is not doing back orders on it. In effect, they could have just flipped it over to "Temporarily out of stock" collected 500 orders a day on it and then execute a production run to fill those orders with guaranteed sales and profit. They choose not to do these. They have made a decision to use the production capacity for other, more profitable activity. Production Capacity is limited and their future plans call for this capacity to be used on other production runs. They are not looking a week or two down the road. They are planning capacity runs for 12 to 18 months down the road. Look at the Simpson house. It wasn't retired. There will be another run on the Simpson house. The production plan calls for it. It is just a question of when. Other sets will have a future run as well (R5, Pet Shop). They treat them differently when they plan future activity but they just are not sure when. Also, they know there will be runs because they have agreements with retailers they have to live up to. Delivery must be made by x date on 10,000 units, 15,000 units etc. The agreements between Lego and Target, Walmart, TRU are massive contracts with multiple delivery's, penalties for performance, etc. I know we look at this at a micro level when it is our cash in the game but my inventory is a drop compared to other collectors, investors and retailers. If this was not done it would not be tagged as sold out. (IMHO)

There's more than one set there. Ship on the right is 8085 Freeco Speeder. That's not Hoth Han, that's Cold Weather Anakin from the Freeco set. Thi-Sen figure is also in Freeco set but not shown in your photo (that might be his legs on the stormtrooper). The other ship is 7679 Republic Fighter Tank, think it was a Target exclusive. It came with two clones. That stormtrooper helmet is from neither set. Not sure about the torso on the stormtrooper.

You figured out my loophole. I have been hanging out at truck stops all month offering to pump truckers gas in return for them allowing me to do a $1 partial pay. They pay the rest I get 5x rewards.

I picked up 15 Raptor Escapes as well from several different Walmarts I passed on my way back home from visiting my parents after the Fourth of Jul holiday. I am thinking about hitting up a few more to scoop up the last few remaining in my area.

Just picked up the last 15 in my state. Here is to hoping for zombie type returns, with a limited production.

There have been mixed results with getting the dollar off and % off to work together. It can work, but I think it depends on what you are buying. Certainly it will require buying 2 items. The % off will come off the most expensive item, but I suspect the second item may need to be over the cost of the discount, and/or over some minimum that is not listed on the coupon terms. Another factor may be the cashier and what they will and will not do, though some times they may not even tell you what they did. In general stacking coupons and using GC + TRUTH 10% will be YMMV.

Yes, but it wasn't 'temporarily out of stock' and then 'sold out' until this week. Anyway, everyone knows it's over-hoarded, been out too long, the figures look dated, the build techniques make duplo look sophisticated, and there's a bigger, better, cheaper DS due out any day now. So really, everyone should be loading up on Exo-Suits ('retiring soon'!) or Mixels series XXXIII.

This is why people go postal. Kudos for how you handled it, my next step would be to walk into that store and take up a meditation pose on top of the customer service counter until a refund goes through. (alternative solution: give me equal value in free Lego sets - from clearance, of course) My complaint is about a set of used Indiana Jones sets I bought off eBay. The pics show all the vehicles and a little over half the minifigs, but no instructions, nor the "accessory" components of several sets - like trees, campfires, maintenance vehicles, etc. Also, they were displayed on a shelf with some other sets not included in the lot, so I ask the seller before purchase if the sets are complete with all pieces, minifigs, and instructions - I didn't have time to count / verify for myself (especially the figs - oops) before the auction ended. The reply was along the lines of "yes, maybe a couple small things missing, but it's all there". I got the lot at a good (amazing if complete) price. And of course, what showed up was exactly in the pics, plus all the instructions except for 7 sets. I contacted them to voice my displeasure about being misled, and got no willingness, even some defensiveness with NO acknowledgement of the careless reply. If I hadn't put in the work cleaning, sorting, building, and cataloging the missing parts, I'd just SNAD this but feel that is no longer an option. I hate asking for partial refunds but feel that is the only fair solution. Ugh...

That was a George Clooney movie with his mileage points. I wanted my TRU pilots wings. Ex- funny so did I and it actually shipped.

I'm glad I bought a Sea Cow today.

he just saved me 15% on my car insurance. <wah-wah>

You'll run out at some point and then my kids will eat.

Thinking 700$ this holiday season, maybe $800 tops .

Rant: I went to a Target on Saturday and found a couple Knowhere Escapes on clearance. I got in line and used my credit card (instead of Red Card) to buy them because my kids dropped my RedCard in a difficult to extract location in my van. After I finished paying the cashier moves on to the next customer and I ask for my receipt. He looks confused and I again ask for my receipt - he says "I'm pretty sure I gave it to you". I think he's pretty cocky for saying such a thing considering he's 1/2 my age but maybe he was having a bad day (I worked a little retail myself before). I patiently wait on the side for him to finish with that customer behind me. He flips the flashing light, gets impatient that a manager hasn't come after 20 seconds and says he's going to go on to the next customer and I ask him to kindly reprint the receipt. Lower manager comes over and asks if I really need the receipt to which I reply "Uh, yes, I would like it." Lower manager grumbles "fine" and drags me over to security. Security is asked to reprint the receipt. Security is gone for 10 minutes and higher manager asks why I'm waiting. I told him I'm asking for a receipt and he assures me it will only be a couple more minutes. 10 more minutes and I walk over to the return counter and ask if I can just do a return and rebuy to I can get my receipt. Higher manager asks for my receipt to which I give a look of "SRSLY?" Higher manager says security can't find the transaction so it probably didn't go through because it was my checker's first day on the job (lucky me). Manager says he'll ring me up again and to call the Target support line if I get double charged (he scribbles a number down on a sheet of paper). I ask for his business card and he says he doesn't have one. I get in the van and apologize to my wife who has been sitting in a hot car for almost an hour. I get home and confirm that my card was double charged. I call the Target number scribbled down and it's a disconnected Target #. I call the manager back and give him an earful and say I want the issue resolved. He takes my phone number and promises a resolution and states he will call back. He never called. I have tried calling him back 3 times but the operator says he's busy or he's no in. I have filed a chargeback and have to wait on this nonsense. I just lost a little faith in the survival of our human race.

I was thinking... that IF the new (improved) DS comes out at the end of 2016... will Lego make use of the microfigures like in the UCS Helicarrier? This could potentially change the whole concept of a Lego Death Star without even hurting the current one.

let the games begin.

People driving & texting (or whatever it is they're doing with the phone) & typing...

7679 - Republic Fighter Tank http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?S=7679-1#T=S&O={"ii":1}

Disclaimer: I have no horse in this race, being too late to the game to stock up early and not enough capital to go nuts on this set in the last year or two, so for those and many reasons people have already stated, I avoided it for investment. I did grab one in a perfect box this spring for myself before it was too late. I think this initial spike (which may happen more than once in the next few months, if the death star is only "mostly dead" at this point) is truly the only predictable growth for this set, other than growth in general. Why? The apparent EOL timing is like NOTHING we have seen before: - 7 full years in production, essentially unheard of... - Substantially into the "popular" era of Lego investing, where an exponentially greater number of people are pouncing on it at the seemingly most opportune time... - A few months prior to the massive hype for Star Wars in general, meaning not only extra interest but extra product competing for the consumer's dollar... - and an unknown time period prior to the "remake", should such rumors prove true. I suppose one can look at almost every set as a unique situation, but as the post-10179 "Top Dog" in Star Wars, if not all of Lego, everything is magnified here. Let's face it, this is kind of a big deal. So, a little analyzing and comparison from Brickset using these numbers makes me think: Death Star (1.25) 7647 people have the set 6136 people want the set In production 7 years $400 US Millenium Falcon (0.4) 2749 HAVE 6924 WANT Produced 2.5 years, EOL over 5 years $500 US Super Star Destroyer (0.84) 4045 HAVE 4822 WANT Produced nearly 3 years, EOL about 1 year $400 US R2-D2 (1.93) 5769 2990 Produced 2.5 years, EOL less than 1 $180 US Ewok Village (0.84) 3773 have 4488 want In production nearly 2 years $250 US Red 5 (1.25) 4108 3276 In production 2+ years $200 US Sandcrawler (0.67) 2634 3927 In Production 1+ years $300 US Slave I (0.72) 2552 3544 In production less than 1 year $200 US Tower Bridge (1.84) 5696 have 3092 want In production nearly 5 years $240 US Fire Brigade (2.29) 10206 have 4453 want Produced 4 years, EOL for 2 $150 US Grand Emporium (2.64) 11545 4379 Produced 4.5 years, EOL nearly 1 $150 US Pet Shop (2.76) 11117 4032 In production 4+ years $150 US Palace Cinema (2.22) 8826 3983 In production 2+ years $150 US Town Hall (1.89) 8294 4378 Produced 2.5 years, EOL nearly 1 $200 US T1 VW Camper Van (3.81) 9071 have 2379 want In production nearly 4 years $120 US 1. More people WANT this set than any other listed except 10179 - significantly more than SSD (#2), nearly twice as many as EV (#3) and TH (#4), over twice as many as R2 and TB, No doubt the price point is the major factor here, especially considering the production life. If all those people couldn't afford it in the last 7 years, why would they pay a (major) premium in the next 3? There are valid answers to this question, but think about it. With the increased awareness of post-availability value spikes, how many of those people are biting the bullet and getting one now before prices supposedly skyrocket? How many "unaware" future customers do not use Brickset? 2. There ARE a lot of people who OWN this set already - nearly 3x as many as 10179, 2x SSD, more than R2 and TB, nearly as many as TH, but not nearly as many as FB/GE/PS. How many owners have extras to sell in the coming months / years? How many investors check the box on Brickset? 3. Overall interest (HAVE + WANT) is nearly that of FB/GE/PS, more than T1/TB/R2, way more than SSD. Clearly this stat isn't a main factor in terms of investment value. 4. The ratio (HAVE / WANT) is basically half that of FB/GE/PS and much less than R2/TH. This is a very good sign in theory, but going back to the price point, how many of those unfulfilled wishes will come true? And how many will forget / modify their dream once the new set comes out? That ratio will obviously increase as time goes on, and it is already well above (worse than) SSD, which is performing worse than R2/TH so far. However, long-retired UCS sets with even better ratios have not done well as investments, so do these numbers really mean anything? (Stick that in your ventilation shaft and smoke it)

So did I, started the build this evening

I've heard the same from my local WM's and TRU's. I was at 3 today and none of them had a single JW set, and could not tell me when new stock was due in. However i did find 1 location that had some of the Summer sets in were was cool to finally look at in person. Really like the Nether Fortress.

I just did a pretty substantial online search of inventory over a large range of the midatlantic. Seems that Dilophosaurus, Raptor Rampage and the Pterandon set will be getting a restock at quite a few WM's on July 30th. For some reason B&N's tracker is not working and they changed it recently. But, I ran through this last week when it was operational, and it was thin at that point, and that was over a 200 mile radius. TRU is showing some decent stock levels (sporadic though), but they are obviously above retail, but if you use TRUTH magic, there's a chance to land some good ones still. IR, Rexie, and Raptor Escape are showing no signs of restocks in the next few weeks, at least at WM.

You stopped at 2 cashiers...I get a different total from every cashier...

Triple? I think some of these are more like the grand slam of 2015. I think you can now put Rexie in the same category too.

I agree shipping is not for craigslist but if you find something in a nearby city but not wanting to drive some people will do it especially for an awesome set

The Brick Fan revealed more images of some previously unrevealed series 14 figures. It is funny that looking at the pictures, I am already thinking about what to smoosh for to identify them. The Zombie Businessman could be harder unless he comes with accessories.

I got a similar response from TRU in Canada today! So thats two ends of the world that we are getting similar response...

I did too! Can't wait to get it.

I saw him last month too and he shared a piece of popcorn with me.

This probably won't last long but hoth base lizard looks legit.... think they used the rubberized gallimimus from 30320

they should just call it a fiero with fakerrari kit

It's gotta be the Sydney Wopera House or Shield Whelicarrier

I don't think so, but your first stop should be a stored called genteelfrog ... "We have no minimum order and no lot limit fees. " Don't be afraid to mention you were referred from BP.

I am reviewing inventory and found that I had 25 of the BTTF instead of 15. That was a nice surprise.

Is that the Athens town hall in the middle?